Abstract
Unified Communications has altered the decision maker' s paradigm of enterprise communications. It has moved away from a typical traditional voice centric assessment to criteria that seek maximise business process streamlining and productivity gains, with minimal business process re-engineering. Produced annually as the flagship report in Telsyte' s Business Decision Maker Series, this study provides a detailed investigation and comprehensive analysis of enterprise communications technology trends among Australian businesses.
Key findings from this study include:
- Peer referral is a powerful source on purchase decisions. Word of mouth from trusted colleagues, industry peers or personal friends has always been a major source of influence, which correlated highly with customer satisfaction. Decision makers also favour direct interaction with the vendors and service providers. Although it is less so in the Mid-Market and Large businesses, due to complex procurement practices.
- Service provider is the prime source of advice followed by direct consultation with the equipment vendors. Decision makers are less inclined to seek independent advisory sources such as technology consultants, technology research firms and management consultants.
- Cisco, Avaya and Alcatel-Lucent have been able to successfully repackage their enterprise product offerings, including UC, to cater for the needs of the medium market segment. The push for UC in this market is likely to eliminate traditional vendors with no UC propositions such as Panasonic and Samsung in the next 5 years, largely expected to be in line with replacement cycles.
- Although large enterprises are currently proving to be the early adopters of UC, the midmarket businesses are poised to follow soon after. Essentially opting to wait till UC becomes more mature and the business case for the large enterprise market is proven.
- Australian businesses are at a crossroad in terms of technological change. The technological has long shaped the behaviour of the end-user, the workforce, the CIO and IT managers. However, with the emergence of Unified Communications (UC), the end-user has been given the opportunity to shape the technology to cater for their needs.
- Despite the imminent slowdown in the Australian economy, Australian business decision makers have indicated they, in the 12 months, are either likely to increase spending or sustain the current level of telecommunications spending.
- On-demand web collaboration is particularly attractive for the SME market as the ondemand nature of the service minimise capital investment and onsite support.
- Decision makers in general have a positive view of Microsoft in the UC ecosystem. Breaking down by business size, the small, medium and mid-market segments are particularly positive about Microsoft, with the small market segment having a strong view that Microsoft will be the market leader in UC.
- Over 60% of Australian business decision makers have indicated that ‘Greenness' is either very important or is becoming important in vendor selection. The view is especially strong among the large enterprise.
- Conclusion and recommendations.
Table of Contents
1. INTRODUCTION
- 1.1 Methodology
- 1.2 Definitions
2. EXECUTIVE SUMMARY
3. ENTERPRISE TELEPHONY MARKET AND DECISION MAKING PROCESSES
- 3.1 2008 Australian Enterprise Telephony Market
- 3.2 Most Effective Sales and Marketing Tools
- 3.3 Use of External Consultants
4. ENTERPRISE TELEPHONY USAGE AND SPENDING
- 4.1 System Technology Type Usage/Penetration
- 4.2 Endpoint Type Penetration
- 4.3 Vendor Usage, Relationships, and Penetration
- 4.3.1 Small Business Market
- 4.3.2 Medium Enterprise Market
- 4.3.3 Mid-market
- 4.3.4 Large Enterprise Market
- 4.3.5 Australian Business Telephony Churn Intentions
5. VENDOR PREFERENCES AND PERCEPTIONS
- 5.1 Vendor/Solution Selection Criteria
- 5.2 End User Market Leadership Perceptions
- 5.3 Vendor Competency Perception
- 5.3.1 Alcatel-Lucent
- 5.3.2 Avaya
- 5.3.3 Cisco
- 5.3.4 Nortel
6. BUSINESS DRIVERS AND INHIBITORS IN ENTERPRISE COMMUNICATIONS
- 6.1 Enterprise Communications Spending Plans
- 6.2 End Users' Understanding and Knowledge of Unified Communications
- 6.2.1 Knowledge on Unified Communications
- 6.2.2 The Unified Communications Proposition
- 6.2.3 Conferencing Technology Usage
- 6.2.4 Microsoft in Unified Communications
- 6.3 Unified Communications Readiness and Implementation Plans
- 6.4 Green ICT
7. CONCLUSION AND RECOMMENDATIONS
- 7.1 Recommendations for Vendors/Service Providers
- 7.2 Recommendations for Business Decision Makers
8. RELATED RESEARCH
9. APPENDIX A - AUSTRALIAN BUSINESSES' PERCEPTION OF ENTERPRISE COMMUNICATIONS VENDORS
Figures
- Figure 1 - Australian IP Telephony Revenues versus Traditional Telephony Revenues 2007- 2012 Forecast
- Figure 2 - Australian Enterprise Telephony Market Share, 2007
- Figure 3 - Events and marketing influences on purchasing decisions, 2008
- Figure 4 - Source of External Advice on Enterprise Communications Deployment, 2008
- Figure 5 - Current Telephony System Usage by Business Size, 2008
- Figure 6 - Current PBX Endpoints by Business Size, 2008
- Figure 7 - Current Vendor Used In The Small Business Market, 2008
- Figure 8 - Current Vendor Used In The Medium Business Market, 2008
- Figure 9 - Current Vendor Used In The Mid-Market, 2008
- Figure 10 - Current Vendor Used In The Large Enterprise Market, 2008
- Figure 11 - Intention to Continue with Current Telephony Vendor, 2008
- Figure 12 - Most Influential Vendor Selection Attribute, 2008
- Figure 13 - Most Influential Solution Selection Attribute, 2008
- Figure 14 - Market Leadership Perception in UC, 2008
- Figure 15 - Market Leadership Perception in Mobility Solution, 2008
- Figure 16 - Market Leadership in IP Telephony
- Figure 17 - Market Leadership Perception in Contact Centre Solution, 2008
- Figure 18 - Australian Business Future Vendor Selection and Awareness, 2008
- Figure 19 - Alcatel-Lucent Strength Analysis Diagram
- Figure 20 - Avaya Strength Analysis Diagram
- Figure 21 - Cisco Strength Analysis Diagram
- Figure 22 - Nortel Strength Analysis Diagram
- Figure 23 - Enterprise Communications Equipment Spend Intentions, 2008
- Figure 24 - Enterprise Communications Service Spend Intentions, 2008
- Figure 25 - Knowledge on Unified Communications, 2008
- Figure 26 - Attitude towards Unified Communications by the General Workforce, 2008
- Figure 27 - Understanding of Unified Communications, 2008
- Figure 28 - Perception of Key Value Proposition of Unified Communications, 2008
- Figure 29 - Key Business Impact of Unified Communications, 2008
- Figure 30 - Future Usage of Conferencing Technologies, 2008
- Figure 31 - Primary Reason for the Usage of Conferencing Technologies, 2008
- Figure 32 - Perception of Microsoft in Unified Communications, 2008
- Figure 33 - Knowledge on Microsoft OCS, 2008
- Figure 34 - Timeframe for Unified Communications Deployment, 2008
- Figure 35 - Reason for Not Deploying Unified Communications Now, 2008
- Figure 36 - Infrastructure Readiness for Unified Communications, 2008
- Figure 37 - Unified Communications Deployment Preference, 2008
- Figure 38 - Importance of ‘Greenness' in Vendor Selection, 2008
- Figure 39 - Perception of Understand Industry Requirements, 2008
- Figure 40 - Perception of Competitive Pricing, 2008
- Figure 41 - Perception of Customer Service, 2008
- Figure 42 - Perception of Being Green, 2008
- Figure 43 - Perception of Ease of Use and Manageability, 2008
- Figure 44 - Perception of Best TCO, 2008
Tables
- Table 1 - Distribution of Telsyte' s 2008 Survey Respondents by Business Size
- Table 2 - Distribution of Telsyte' s 2008 Survey Respondents by Vertical Industry
- Table 3 - Distribution of Telsyte' s 2008 Survey Respondents by Job Role
- Table 4 - Distribution of Telsyte' s 2008 Survey Respondents by Geographical Location
- Table 5 - Top 3 Influence in Vendor Selection by Business Size, 2008
- Table 6 - Top 3 Influence in Solution Selection by Business Size, 2008
